Education spotlight: Business is up at North Mason High School

North Mason High School marketing teacher Betsi Feider, left, counts money made at the school store during first lunch on Monday. Working with her is store manager Jessica Jensen, 17.
(LARRY STEAGALL / KITSAP SUN)

Students crowd into the North Mason High School student store during lunch period on Monday. The store is in a converted classroom.
(LARRY STEAGALL / KITSAP SUN)

Freshman Katie Clifford, right, and junior Sarah Newton work the register at the North Mason High School student store on Monday. Two two wrote a detailed, 85-page business plan for the store, which is one of just 35 in Washington state to earn a gold-level certification from the DECA organization.
(LARRY STEAGALL / KITSAP SUN)

Amanda Clifford, 15, gets candy for a customer Monday at the North Mason High School student store.
(LARRY STEAGALL / KITSAP SUN)

BELFAIR - North Mason High School students Sarah Newton and Katie Clifford will never look at a pack of peanut M&Ms the same way again.

You'd be surprised how much some things are marked up at a store, Newton said.

After spending a month analyzing costs and writing an 85-page business plan for the student-run store, the two would know.

Due in part to their efforts, the North Mason store was among 35 student stores in Washington to earn or re-earn a gold-level certification from Distributive Education Clubs of America, better known as DECA.

"It's a pretty complex project ... they spent their entire winter break doing this project," said their teacher, Betsi Feider.

Feider teaches marketing classes as well as a class centered around the student-run store, known as the Dawg Pound. Newton, a junior, and Clifford, a freshman, took on the business plan as part of an independent study in entrepreneurship.

The student store, like those in many in high schools around Washington, has been open for more than a decade.

"We treat it like an actual business and try to participate in things like the Chamber of Commerce meetings," Feider said.

They strike deals with area vendors to sell clothing candy, pizza, soda and other treats — though none of the food is supposed to compete with the cafeteria.

The store opens twice a school day — during each lunch — in a converted classroom. It brought in about $10,000 last year, with about 35 percent going to the school's ASB, 35 percent going to DECA and 30 percent being poured back into the store.

For their business plan, Newton and Clifford researched last year's sales, detailed the store's operations and relationships with vendors and community groups, and laid out how they planned to increase profits, bring healthier products into the store and reduce waste.

They gathered letters of recommendation from vendors, the superintendent and other community leaders.

Their plan will be entered in DECA's international competition later this year.

Though their business acumen has been lauded, neither plans to open their own business right away.

"There's a lot more than opening a door," Clifford said. "It's a lot harder than a lemonade stand."

Clifford has some time to decide what she wants to do, but has been interested in the medical field, she said.